Intelligent sports equipment systems and methods

ABSTRACT

An intelligent sports equipment system and method for processing data as a result of different types of events associated with a puck or ball and generally another piece of sports equipment. The information associated with each type of event can include associating player information with the processed data. In one example a smart hockey puck has embedded electronics for sensing motion across a plurality of axes, a hockey stick has an associated RFID tag that can be read by the smart hockey puck, which can transmit information to a computing device for displaying processed data.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. application Ser. No.16/529,349 filed Aug. 1, 2019, which claims the benefit and priority toU.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/713,143 filed on Aug. 1,2018; which are herein incorporated by reference in entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to the tracking and analysis ofvarious information associated with sports such as ice hockey, fieldhockey and lacrosse including how a player handles a puck/ball and astick.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

One of the current ways to track the speed of a hockey puck is to use alaser or radar gun that is laid out on the ice. These current methodsare limited as to the amount of information that can be obtained when aplayer hits a hockey puck and can also be cumbersome to setup. Thepresent application seeks to advance such methods and systems to bettertrack information associated with the speed and handling of a hockeypuck by a given player, as well as analyze said information.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present application relates an intelligent sports system comprisinga smart puck or smart ball having an electronics board embedded therein.The electronics board includes a processing unit, memory, a plurality ofsensors for detecting motion along one or more axes, and at least oneantenna. A smart stick or smart racket having an RFID tag associatedtherewith. The electronics board of the smart puck or smart ball isconfigured to read information from the RFID tag and further processmotion data associated with the smart puck or smart ball.

The intelligent sports system can also include a computing device, suchas a smartphone or tablet, for receiving and displaying the processeddata associated with the smart puck or smart ball.

The intelligent sports system can further be configured to include aremote or cloud-based server that can receive, store and processreceived data directly or via the computing device.

The smart puck or smart ball can include a rechargeable batteryassociated with the electronics board that can be charged using anexternal charging device.

The embedded electronics board can measure, process, and transmitinformation from a plurality of sensors including acceleration,velocity, position, orientation, jerk, rotational velocity, rotationalacceleration, rotational position, temperature, serial number, playeridentification, and battery level of the device.

The embedded electronics board can further include wireless transceiversand communication protocol (i.e. Bluetooth, BLE, RFID, NFC) to transmitinformation from the smart puck or smart ball to another computingdevice (i.e. mobile device, computer, hockey stick, charging source),and oppositely, to receive information from another computing device tothe smart puck or smart ball (i.e. hockey stick, player identification,mobile device, computer, charging source).

In one embodiment the electronics board is configured to have an idlestate and an active state. The active state can be initiated uponmovement of the smart puck or smart ball or when in close proximity toand detecting of the smart stick or smart racket.

The smart stick or smart racket can have a plurality of RFID tagsassociated therewith and placed in positions along the various surfaceswhere interaction with the smart puck or smart ball is likely to occur.These RFID tags can also be embedded within the smart stick or smartracket. In one embodiment the smart stick is smart hockey stick andthree RFID tags are placed along the front portion of the blade portionof the smart hockey stick.

The smart puck or smart ball can be configured to read each of theplurality of RFID tags. This reading of RFID tags can also determine inpart the relative portion or position of the smart stick or smart racketthe smart puck or smart ball came in contact with or near to. Parametersthat can be used to determine relative location including contact spotscan include: number of RFID tags read, order or response of RFID tags,timing of RFID tag responses, previous and future RFID tags read, andsignal strength of response from each RFID tag. The reading can be doneby an RFID scanning system, which includes at least one antenna and iscoupled to the electronics board. The scanning system can have both anidle and active state.

The event of the smart puck or smart ball coming in close proximity withthe smart stick or smart racket can trigger the electronics board toassociate information associated with the RFID tag with the stick orracket data along with processed motion data of the smart puck or smartball. This information can further be associated with a player profilefor viewing and analysis.

In some embodiments a second antenna is provided on the electronicsboard for transmitting processed motion data wirelessly to a computingdevice, while the first antenna is used for reading information fromRFID tags.

In some embodiments an identification tag can be disposed on the smartstick or smart racket, wherein the identification tag providesinformation associated with the one or more RFID tags located on orwithin the smart stick or smart racket. The identification tag caninclude a barcode, a QR code, an alpha-numeric code, a wirelesstransmitter, such as a Bluetooth tile or another RFID tag.

The identification tag can be scanned by a computing device andassociate the information from the identification tag with a playerprofile.

RFID tags can be placed on the front and back portions of the bladeportion of a smart hockey stick.

The RFID tag can be a multi-layered label comprising an adhesive layer,a ferrite layer, a RFID inlay layer, and a cover or padding layer.

In some embodiments a ferrite layer is coated around a blade portion ofthe smart stick and the multi-layered RFID label can be comprised of anadhesive layer, an RFID inlay layer, and a cover or padding layer.

A method for tracking information about a puck or ball in an intelligentsports system can include the steps of: providing a puck or ball havingan electronics board embedded therein, wherein the electronics boardincludes a processing unit, a memory, a plurality of sensors, and atleast one antenna; providing a stick or racket having an RFID tagassociated therewith, wherein the electronics board of the puck or ballis configured to receive information from the RFID tag; determiningwhether the puck or ball is in close proximity to the RFID tag; andreceiving the information from the RFID tag when it is determined thatpuck or ball is in close proximity to the RFID tag;

This method can further include processing data generated by any sensorthe plurality of sensors or information received from the RFID tag.

The method can also include detecting a triggering event by at least onesensor of the plurality of sensors. The detecting event can be one of:motion, acceleration, impact, change in direction of the puck or ball,proximity to stick or racket, or timing event, such as pre-determinedtime limit, or time of day.

The method can include setting the electronics board to an idle stateuntil another triggering event is detected.

The present device and methods can apply to an ice hockey, field hockey,lacrosse and other sports utilizing a puck or ball and an additionalpiece of sports equipment such as a stick or racket.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of theinvention will be apparent from the following description of particularembodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings in which like reference characters refer to the same partsthroughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarily toscale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles ofthe invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates a smart hockey puck system;

FIGS. 2A-E illustrate various flow charts of processing data associatedwith a smart hockey puck or smart ball;

FIGS. 3A-B illustrates a smart hockey puck with embedded electronicboard, sensors, antenna, and transceivers for detecting, processinginformation associated with said puck and surrounding objects;

FIGS. 3C-D illustrates a block diagram of the embedded electronic boardof FIGS. 3A-B.

FIGS. 4A-C illustrate the arrangement of RFID tags across the bladeportion of a hockey stick;

FIGS. 5A-D illustrate various embodiments of applying or embedding RFIDtags and associated layers in or about the blade portion of a hockeystick;

FIGS. 6A-E illustrate a hockey player utilizing a hockey stick with RFIDtags and a smart hockey puck, with detection and analysis beingmonitored and processed at various positions;

FIGS. 7A-B illustrate a ball with embedded electronics for use in othersports such as field hockey or lacrosse;

FIG. 8 illustrates a lacrosse stick with an embedded RFID tag forregistration with the smart ball of FIGS. 7A-B.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As noted in the background section, one of the purposes of the presentembodiments is to provide intelligent sports equipment systems andmethods that function like real sports equipment and can process data inreal-time, without the need for bulky or cumbersome techniques, such asplacing a radar or laser gun in a certain part of a hockey rink todetermine the speed of the hockey puck. Such previous methods arelimited in the amount of information that is provided and the scopeabout which information can be provided. For example, it is not feasibleto place radar or laser gun on the ice rink during live action asmultiple players are constantly skating around, and thus triggering orcrossing the radar or laser gun fields making it very difficult todetermine whether the puck or player crossed over. It is one thing totrack the speed of a hockey puck from a single player shooting on goal,but in order to track that in live action using current technology isdifficult. This applies to other sports such as field hockey andlacrosse, but the applications can be implemented beyond these mentionedtypes of sports games. Thus, the present systems and methods weredeveloped to solve these and other problems in current tracking andanalysis technology.

For purposes of the embodiments described herein the term processingwith respect to the electronic boards and circuitry can include: runningcalculations on data, recording data, logging data, analyzing data, andreceiving or transmitting data. The term RFID tags can be interchangedwith RFID chips, RFID transceivers, and RFID transmitters. The termspuck or ball are meant to be a subset of a variety of sports equipment,for example ball can refer a number of types and styles of balls used insports. The terms stick or racket are also meant to be a subset of avariety of sports equipment, for example stick can refer to hockeystick, field hockey stick, lacrosse stick, baseball bat, and so forth.

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a smart hockey puck system 10 whichis comprised of hockey stick 12 having associated RFID transceiver(s),smart hockey puck 14, computing device 16, and remote or cloud-basedserver 18. One or more RFID tags can be attached to a portion of theblade of hockey stick 12. This allows for certain amount of wirelesscommunication 20 between the hockey stick 12 and the smart hockey puck14. For example, when the smart hockey puck 14 comes within proximity ofor contact with the hockey stick, the smart hockey puck can registerthat it is within a certain proximity of a particular hockey stick. Asfurther shown in FIG. 1, smart hockey puck 14 can also wirelesslycommunicate 22 with a computing device 16, such as a smartphone, tablet,smartwatch, laptop, desktop and the like. Depending on computing power,data and so forth, the computing device 16 can transfer via network 50information to be processed on a remote server or cloud-based server 18.Resulting and historical information can then be relayed back to thecomputing device 16 and displayed in various formats for furtheranalysis. Such information can be valuable for players, coaches, scoutsand so forth.

As mentioned above, the registering event can trigger a processing eventin the smart hockey puck 14, which information can be relayed throughcomputing device 16 to be processed and stored in the cloud 18 for laterretrieval by computing device 16. For example, if player #99 associatedwith a unique-identified hockey stick stops the smart hockey puck, thesmart hockey puck 14 can process or record that player #99 has juststopped the smart hockey puck or alternatively can register that thenext set of actions associated with the smart hockey puck 14 are to beassociated with player #99 and trigger the smart hockey puck to processor record and associate the next set of actions (data) with player #99'sprofile. If after player #99 stops the smart hockey puck, he/she thentakes a slapshot, the impact, speed, timing, rotation, direction andother processable or recordable data associated with the smart hockeypuck can then be processed and associated with player #99's profile. Ifthe smart hockey puck is then recovered by player #88, who is associatedwith another unique-identified hockey stick, the smart hockey puck canthen register and begin processing the next set of data to be associatedwith player #88's profile. This example extends to other interactionsbetween smart hockey puck 14 and hockey stick 12 including shooting,stickhandling, passing and so forth.

There are multiple actions that can trigger data associated with thesmart hockey puck to be processed. FIG. 2A illustrates one method havinga set of triggering events and the associated processing of data as aresult of the triggering event. The flow chart shown illustrates thesmart hockey puck initially in an idle state. The idle state can be alow-power or sleep state where only a limited number of sensors ortransmitters are operating until a triggering event occurs, often usedto conserve battery life, which upon triggering can turn on additionalsensors and transmitters associated with the smart hockey puck. In thisflow chart, when motion is detected the smart hockey puck changes froman idle state to an active state, where data is processed. Thisprocessed data can be used to calculated performance metrics, berecorded, transmitted or alternatively can simply be tracked untilanother triggering event occurs. Further in the flow chart a decisionbox illustrates whether an RFID scan is to occur. In other words, shouldthe smart hockey puck begin scanning for nearby RFID tags or should thesmart hockey puck simply continue processing data. If a RFID scanningevent is triggered and a nearby RFID tag is detected, then dataprocessing can now be associated with the information associated withthat RFID tag as mentioned above, which can include data processingbefore and/or after the RFID scanning event. At the end of the dataprocessing the smart hockey puck can return again to an idle state,waiting for a new triggering event to occur.

The smart hockey puck can operate in a variety of modes, as one skilledin the art upon reading these embodiments can appreciate and asillustrated in the example flow charts shown in FIGS. 2B-E, whichdemonstrate triggering the electronics board to go from an idle to anactive state, as well as the RFID scanning system coupled to theelectronics board, associating motion data with RFID tags that are onstick or racket associated with a particular player and determiningwhere the puck or ball touched or interacted with the stick or ball.Further examples include, the smart hockey puck can always be processingdata, or it can process data upon the triggering of certain events suchas detecting motion or detecting a nearby RFID tag. The smart hockeypuck can be remotely operated from another wireless computing device oroperate on rules associated with time, which could also be consideredtriggering events. Such rules could include powering down or refusing tolog before/after a certain time. Going idle between events after apre-determined period of time has passed, such as 2, 3, 5, or 10 secondsor longer has passed.

In one embodiment, the smart hockey puck or smart ball is in a low powermode, until receiving a signal from another wireless computing device,such as a smartphone, which could be directly communicated via Bluetoothor Wifi signals, or indirectly communicated with a wireless router via anetwork. Once the signal is received the smart hockey puck or smart ballcan operate in a periodic scanning mode, searching for RFID tags until asecond signal from the remote computing device is received to end theperiodic scanning session.

As noted above, data processing can occur at various times, anddata-processing can also have a range of functionality. For example,during an idle state the data that is being processed can range inactivity and draw varying levels of power for processing up until thesmart puck is in a full active mode where the RFID scanning system isoperating and full data processing capabilities are occurring, whichgenerally draws the most amount of power. For example, during oneversion of the idle state, only the motion processor can be active andlooking for a motion signal that is sufficient to cross a threshold toturn on additional sensors and components, such as the wirelesscommunication component of the electronics board. Once the wirelesscommunication component is turned on, the smart puck could be drawingadditional power, but still be in a low power consumption state. Withthe wireless communication component active, the motion sensor can beginrecording raw motion data in a buffer or short-term storage that can beoverwritten when full if not transferred to longer term storage foroffloading later on. The motion sensor and wireless computing componentcan also be looking for a triggering event, which has a different set ofcharacteristics then an initial idle mode. These activities can drawadditional power, but can still be less than an active mode. When atriggering event occurs the raw motion data can be coupled with time andinteraction events with RFID tags, that are not being sensed by anactivated RFID scanning system and processed to a longer-term storagememory for offloading to the cloud or other computing device foradditional post-processing and analysis. Thus, it is contemplated thatthe idle or low power state can have a range of processing activitiesand activated components up until the smart hockey puck or ball isutilizing all or most of the components and processing data in a mannerthat generally draws higher power levels.

FIGS. 3A-B illustrate the smart hockey puck with an embedded electronicsboard 24 disposed inside thereof. The electronics board 24 can includean RFID antenna 26 and various electronic components 28. The antenna 26as shown, is in a circular pattern, which enables for omnidirectionalsignals to be emitted and received. The electronic components 28 caninclude: batteries, accelerometers, wireless transceivers ((i.e.Bluetooth, BLE, RFID, NFC, GPS), gyroscope sensors, magnetometersensors, IMUs, processing chips, microcontrollers, memory, charging ICs,magnets, and other various components to enable the intercommunicationand functionality between the various sensors, processing and memorycomponents, power conditioning and charging, as well as transmitting andreceiving information to and from the smart hockey puck.

FIG. 3C illustrates one embodiment of a block diagram 300A of theelectronics board 24, which includes CPU 310 having internal memory,RFID block 330 (including an RFID interface), sensor array 345, powermanagement block 370, and optional antenna 340. In the configurationwith the optional antenna, information received by the sensor array andRFID block could be recorded to memory in CPU 310 and later transmittedvia the antenna of the RFID block 330. Power can be supplied to thesensor array 345, CPU 310 and RFID block 330.

FIG. 3D illustrates another embodiment of a block diagram 300B of theelectronics board 24. Block diagram 300B includes a CPU or processor 310having internal memory, and an optional separate memory 320 unit whichcan communicate with CPU 310, which receives power from the powermanagement block 370, receives data from sensor array 345 and isconnected with antenna 340, as well as RFID block 330, which can includereader and/or writer functions and an antenna. Antenna 340 can be usedto communicate with computing device 16 directly. As discussed above inthe electronic components 28 the sensors in the sensor array 345 caninclude many of the same types of sensors including motion sensors (i.e.MEMS) and temperature sensors. The number of sensors is not limited toone or two, but can be as many as desired and the lists provided aremeant to be exemplary and not exhaustive. The wireless block 360 can beintegrated into the CPU 310, which includes hardware and firmwareprotocols to allow various types of wireless communication includingBluetooth and Wi-Fi. Thus, enabling the smart hockey puck to communicateto an external computing device 16 or even the cloud server 18. Thepower management block 370 can include a power source, such as abattery, power management controls and charging controls for bothconductive and wireless charging.

It should be noted that the embodiments herein can utilize both wirelesscharging and DC charging, where the conductive portions (not shown) areformed on an outer surface of the smart hockey puck, or a port (notshown) is formed for a wired charging method.

FIGS. 4A-C illustrate an arrangement 400 of RFID tags 410 across theblade portion 420 of a hockey stick 430. In FIG. 4A three RFID tags 410are spaced across the surface of hockey blade portion 420. As the smarthockey puck approaches and gets within proximity it can read one or moreof the RFID tags 410. In some embodiments, which RFID tags were read,the timing, order of response, or signal strength can determine whichportion of the hockey blade the hockey puck made contact with. The smarthockey puck can determine location when only one tag response isreceived by the smart hockey puck, through corresponding the contactwith the physical position of the blade where the single RFID tagresides. When multiple tag responses are received, the smart hockey puckcan use the timing, order of response, signal strength, previous RFIDreads or future RFID reads to determine the contact location moreaccurately. This kind of information can help with training purposes.

For example, if the smart hockey puck reads the tags on a hockey stickmultiple times in a row, the last set of reads prior to releasing a slapshot, could be the position where the contact with the smart hockey puckand the hockey stick occurred at the time of departure of the puck fromthe blade for the slap shot.

FIG. 4B illustrates an adhesive-backed label 440 or sticker withintegrated RFID tags to help them stay in place and provide a protectivecovering for the RFID tags 410. Traditional hockey tape 450 can bewrapped around the blade portion 420 and cover the adhesive cover 440.It should be noted the RFID tags 410 can be of several varietiesincluding passive, battery-assisted passive and active, which includetransponders and beacons. The frequencies that these RFID tags operateinclude low frequency (LF), high frequency (HF) and ultra-high frequency(UHF). The limitations and uses of each type are understood by those inthe art. The embodiments described herein can utilize the various typesas well. For example, if the RFID tag is an active transponder, then thesmart hockey puck can operate in a read mode. If the RFID tag is apassive version, then the smart hockey puck can emit a signal thatpowers the RFID tag in order to send a response that is then received bythe smart hockey puck. When a tag is closer to the smart hockey puck (oralternatively a smart ball), it will power up faster due to the bettercoupling of the RF energy from the smart puck or smart ball.

An identification tag 480 can be placed at various positions on thehockey stick 430 including part of the adhesive-backed label or sticker440. The identification tag could be a barcode, QR code, alphanumericcode, wireless transmitter and so forth. The purpose of theidentification code is to provide a means for quickly identifying agiven hockey stick with a player or rather player profile. For example,a player profile can be created and viewed on computing device 16, whichcould have a QR code reader. The computing device 16, such as asmartphone or tablet, could be used to scan the QR code where theinformation associated with that QR code, such as the informationassociated with each of the RFID tags, can now be input into the playerprofile. As that player uses that hockey stick and interacts with asmart hockey puck, the system can then match the appropriate data withthe player's profile. In this manner, a hockey stick could be used bymultiple players and the information sorted by scanning the QR codebefore each player uses the hockey stick. It should readily berecognized from this example how other types of identification tagscould be used in a similar manner to achieve the same purpose, which isto associate the correct information with the appropriate player orplayer profile.

For clarity it should also be understood that a hockey stick associatedwith a particular hockey player could interact with multiple smarthockey pucks. Thus, data associated with multiple smart hockey puckscould be received into the particular hockey player's profile forviewing and analysis. For example, a training scenario could exist wherethe particular hockey player is practicing slapshots on goal, and hits30-40 smart hockey pucks at the goal. The data from each of these smarthockey pucks would be associated with the particular hockey player usingthe same hockey stick and received into the player profile.

FIGS. 5A-D are illustrations of additional embodiments of attachingand/or embedding RFID tags onto a hockey stick. For example, as shown inFIG. 5A, a cross-sectional view of hockey blade portion 520 is shown anda multi-layered label 530 comprised of adhesive layer 532, ferrite layer534, RFID inlay layer 536, and cover or padding layer 538. Themulti-layer label 530 can be attached to one or both the front and backportions of the hockey blade. A slightly different configuration isshown in FIG. 5B where a ferrite layer is coated around the hockey bladeportion 520 leaving the multi-layer label 531 with three layers:adhesive layer 532, RFID inlay layer 536, and the cover or padding layer538. In yet another embodiment, shown in FIG. 5C, the RFID inlay 536 isdisposed or embedded in the hockey blade portion 540. It should be notedthe RFID inlay includes an antenna and integrated circuit (IC). Avariant to this is found in FIG. 5D where an RFID IC 560 is embedded ina hockey blade portion 550 and where hockey blade portion 550 is formedof a material(s) configured to act as an antenna for the RFID IC 560.

Hockey stick and blades in particular, can be made from a variety ofmaterials. One type of material used could be certain blends of carbonfiber. Certain types of Carbon Fiber can be very conductive and as aresult cause interference with RFID tags. For this reason, it may benecessary to provide a ferrite layer, so as to minimize the interferencefrom the blade material, so that the RFID tag(s) placed thereon canreceive and transmit optimally. This interference can come in the formof radiation absorption, electrical conductivity, electromagnetic fieldinterference and so forth. By providing a ferrite coated hockey blade,such as coating a Carbon Fiber blade, the ability to simplify the numberof layers and the cost of the applique or multi-layer label is madepossible. Specifically, being able to use multi-layer label 531, whichdoesn't have a ferrite layer, as opposed to label 530, could be morecost-effective to manufacture, especially where these multi-layer labelscan be made to be replaceable or have a shorter term of life then thehockey stick itself. It should also be noted that the outer layer of themulti-layer labels 530 or 531 can include a gripping surface with atargeted friction coefficient and be hydrophobic, so as to providebetter control of a puck and not absorb water like a lot of hockey tapedoes, respectively. In this manner the need to use hockey tape can bemitigated and the multi-layer labels can be utilized until the outerlayer's performance is diminished and needs replacing, similar toreplacing hockey tape on the blade.

The embodiments shown in FIGS. 5A-D could also be modified with theseprinciples taught herein to include additional adhesive layers,additional layers configured to optimally assist with receiving anddirecting signals, additional protective layers to for the criticalcomponents, such as the RFID IC, antenna or power source, and additionalcover layers for aesthetic purposes. Other materials used include wood,laminates, epoxy, Kevlar, plastics, and so forth, with each type ofmaterial having its own set of insulative or conductive properties, thusthe need for a multi-layered label 530, 531, or other version to beoptimized accordingly.

FIGS. 6A-E illustrate a hockey player 630 utilizing a smart hockeysystem 600 including a hockey stick 610 with RFID tag(s) and a smarthockey puck 620. Where the system 600 is configured to process andanalyze the smart hockey puck 620 at various positions and inrelationship to the hockey stick 610. In FIG. 6A, the smart hockey puckis traveling towards the hockey player 630. The speed, direction andangle of this can be processed or recorded by the smart hockey puck. InFIG. 6B the smart hockey puck comes into contact or close proximity ofthe hockey stick 610, such that the smart hockey puck 620 can read theRFID tag(s) associated with hockey stick 610. Prior or future dataprocessed from the sensors associated with smart hockey puck 620 can beprocessed and associated with the information associated with the RFIDtag(s) of hockey stick 610, such as the player stopping the puck. FIG.6C illustrates the hockey player 630 winding up to hit the smart hockeypuck. FIG. 6D illustrates the hockey player 630 striking the smarthockey puck with hockey stick 610 where impact information can beprocessed along with the information shown in FIG. 6E where the smarthockey puck is sent in a new direction, at a new speed and angle.

It should be noted and as mentioned above, that a triggering event canbe a number of actions, such as changes in motion, impact, detection ofRFID tags, timing and can also include previous interactions andestimations. For example, in FIG. 6A as noted the puck is coming towardsthe player. Prior to receiving the puck, the puck may have interactedwith another player, which the puck registered and associated a set ofmotion data with that player. Once the previous player passes or shootsthe puck, the electronics board can be configured to detect that achange in motion or direction has occurred that may be indicative of apass and therefore become a triggering event to again start the scanningsystem comprised of an antenna configured to read RFID tags. Once thenew player, such as in FIG. 6B, receives the puck the scanning systemcan register a new set of motion data to be associated with the playerreceiving the puck. Once a positive scanning and detection event hasoccurred the scanning system, can then power back down until anothertriggering event occurs. However, motion data, such as that shown inFIGS. 6C-E can still be processed or recorded. The final motion in 6Ecan then indicate a possible new triggering event for the scanningsystem to be activated again.

This triggering event of anticipating the puck changing players, canalso be used to enable the scanning system to begin scanning for varioussignal strengths, so as to be able to determine the position the puckinteracts with the receiving players stick. If the motion data indicatesthe receiving player is beginning to skate with the puck, it can allowthe scanning to maintain a scanning mode to continue to receive signalstrength from the RFID tags on skating hockey player's stick. Thisinformation can then be processed and transferred, where an analysis orviewing of where the puck interacts with that particular player's hockeystick. For example, whether that player uses more of the toe, middle orheel portion of the blade portion of the hockey stick and how thatdiffers from the front of the blade to the back of the blade.

One of the ways to associate the RFID tags with a player is to inputinto a player profile the information associated with each of the RFIDtags. For example, a QR code could be placed on the hockey stick andhave information associated with respect to each of the RFID tags. TheQR code could be scanned and that information imported into the player'sprofile.

The above examples and embodiments have primarily dealt with the sportof ice hockey. However, and as mentioned, the solutions provided hereincan be applied to other sports as well. FIGS. 7A-B illustrate variousviews of a smart ball 700 that has an embedded circuit board 720provided therein. Similar to above, the embedded circuit board 720 canhave a plurality of antennae, sensors, power, microprocessors and soforth as previously discussed. The smart ball 700 can be used with smartlacrosse stick 800 with an associated RFID tag 820 disposed thereon (oralternatively embedded therein). Similar to the hockey example, thesmart ball 700 can register the RFID tag 820, which can be associatedwith player and player profile where processed data can be received fromthe smart ball entered and analyzed using a computing device and/or acloud-based or remote server. The smart ball could be used in fieldhockey, polo, golf, tennis, bowling, and a variety of other sports.

It should also be readily understood that RFID chips, tags, or sensorscan be placed in other places. For example, an RFID tag can be placed inthe glove of a goalie, on the goal itself, on a player's clothing.Several chips or tags can be placed along the baseline of a rink,stadium or field, and as the puck makes contact or gets close to thebaseline boards around the rink information can be read, stored andlater transmitted from the puck or ball. Usually the RFID tag(s) areplaced in a spot where the ball or puck or going to come in contact withanother piece of sports equipment.

As mentioned, the computing device 16 can include a software applicationthat is configured to process and display raw or processed data from thesmart hockey puck or smart ball. Some of the information can be receivedin a pre-processed state based on a particular sensed event. Thecomputing device 16 can be also be in communication either wirelessly ordirectly networked to a remote server 18, which can be configured toaccess multiple databases, store additional information, and haveadditional processing capabilities. In this manner, the computing device16 can be used as a means to transfer information via network 50 to theremote server 18 for analysis and receive the analyzed information to bedisplayed to a user via computing device 16.

It will be appreciated that the system 10 can include computerinstructions located on a non-transitory computer-readable medium ormemory which can be stored locally (on 16 and 24), or remotely (on 18)at a network location. Processing circuitry can then be utilized eitherlocally, remotely, or both to process the sensed data associated withthe hockey puck 14 in order to optimize for size, cost and battery life.

It should also be understood that although the preferred embodimentsutilize wireless means to communicate data from the smart puck or ballto a computing device, this can be done via a direct connection as well,where ports are integrated into the puck or ball for the purpose oftransferring data.

While the principles of the invention have been described herein, it isto be understood by those skilled in the art that this description ismade only by way of example and not as a limitation as to the scope ofthe invention. Other embodiments are contemplated within the scope ofthe present invention in addition to the exemplary embodiments shown anddescribed herein. Modifications and substitutions by one of ordinaryskill in the art are considered to be within the scope of the presentinvention.

1. An intelligent sports system comprising: a puck or ball having anelectronics board embedded therein, wherein the electronics boardincludes the following components: a processing unit, a memory, aplurality of sensors for detecting motion along one or more axes, and atleast one antenna configured to read RFID tags; and a stick or rackethaving an RFID tag associated therewith, wherein the electronics boardof the puck or ball can read information from the RFID tag, and whereinthe electronics board is configured to have an idle state and an activestate, wherein during the active state the at least one antennaconfigured to read RFID tags is activated to scan for RFID tags, andupon identifying the RFID tag associated with the stick or racket causesthe electronics board to process at least a portion of motion datasensed by the puck or ball to be associated with the scanned RFID tagassociated with the stick or racket.
 2. The intelligent sports system ofclaim 1, further including a second antenna for transmitting motion dataand other information wirelessly to a computing device configured todisplay the motion data or provide further processing to the receivedmotion data.
 3. The intelligent sports system of claim 2, furtherincluding a remote or cloud-based server configured to receive, storeand process data received from the electronics board via a network. 4.The intelligent sports system of claim 1, wherein the electronics boardis configured to be in an idle state until a triggering event isdetermined.
 5. The intelligent sports system of claim 1, wherein thestick or racket has a plurality of RFID tags associated therewith. 6.The intelligent sports system of claim 5, wherein the stick is a hockeystick and the plurality of RFID tags are disposed along a blade portionof the hockey stick.
 7. The intelligent sports system of claim 6,wherein the puck is a hockey puck, and the electronics board isconfigured to read the plurality of RFID tags.
 8. The intelligent sportssystem of claim 7, wherein the electronics board is further configuredto read signal strength of each of the RFID tags along the blade portionof the hockey stick.
 9. The intelligent sports system of claim 1,wherein the motion data sensed includes one or more of: direction,velocity, acceleration, angle, height, and impact force.
 10. Theintelligent sports system of claim 1, further including anidentification tag disposed on or near the RFID tag, wherein theidentification tag provides information associated with the RFID tag.11. The intelligent sports system of claim 1, further comprising atleast two RFID tags, wherein at least one RFID tag is mounted on a frontportion of the stick and at least one RFID tag is located on a rearportion of the stick.
 12. The intelligent sports system of claim 1,wherein during the idle state only a subset of the components isoperating or at least some of the components are operating in a lowpower mode.
 13. A method for tracking information about a puck or ballhaving an embedded electronics board therein in an intelligent sportssystem, that further includes one or more sticks or rackets each havingone or more RFID tags positioned on a portion of the stick or racket,the method comprising: determining that a triggering event has occurred,using the electronics board; altering the state of the electronics boardfrom an idle state to an active state based on the triggering event;activating an RFID scanning system of the electronics board during theactive state, wherein the scanning system is configured to perform ascan and includes at least one antenna; retrieving tag data from ascanned RFID tag that is associated with one of the one or more sticksor rackets;
 14. The method for tracking information about a puck or ballin an intelligent sports system of claim 13, further comprising the stepof: receiving motion data associated with the puck or ball using one ormore sensor components in communication with the electronics board. 15.The method for tracking information about a puck or ball in anintelligent sports system of claim 14, further including the step ofassociating the motion data with a user associated with the stick orracket having the scanned RFID tag, wherein the motion data includesdata from a period of time prior to and after retrieving tag data fromthe scanned RFID tag.
 16. The method for tracking information about apuck or ball in an intelligent sports system of claim 13, furtherincluding the step of setting the electronics board to an idle stateuntil another triggering event is detected.
 17. The method for trackinginformation about a puck or ball in an intelligent sports system ofclaim 13, wherein determining that a triggering event has occurredcomprises detecting at least one of: motion, acceleration, impact, andchange in direction of the puck or ball.
 18. The method for trackinginformation about a puck or ball in an intelligent sports system ofclaim 13, wherein the triggering event can include a change in motion,acceleration, impact, direction, timing event, or direct communicationfrom an external computing device.
 19. The method for trackinginformation about a puck or ball in an intelligent sports system ofclaim 16, wherein setting the electronics board to an idle conditioncomprises reducing an amount of power consumed by the electronics board.20. A method for tracking information about a puck or ball having anembedded electronics board therein in an intelligent sports system, thatfurther includes one or more sticks or rackets each having a pluralityof RFID tags positioned about a portion of the stick or racket, themethod comprising: determining that a triggering event has occurred,using at least one sensor component of the electronics board; activatingan RFID scanning system of the electronics board based on the triggeringevent, scanning using the RFID scanning system for each of the pluralityof RFID tags, wherein the RFID scanning system includes at least oneantenna; and retrieving scanned data from each scanned RFID tag that isassociated with one of the one or more sticks or rackets.